According to the newspaper Estado de Minas, the iron ore waste dam Casa de Pedra, belonging to the Brazilian steel producer and iron ore miner CSN, is showing signs of erosion, resulting from the intense rainfall that affected the area in February.
The company affirms that the dam, located in Congonhas, distant 82 km from Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, is stable, a declaration supported by the federal mining agency ANM.
CSN is currently developing repair works in the dam, raising fears of its collapse by residents in the city, as it is possible to see water flowing into the dam, an event not supposed to occur, as the dam is no longer operational and should not receive water or wastes from the mining operations.
In addition to Casa de Pedra, CSN has the B4 Dam, upstream in relation to Casa de Pedra, which was also built under the same technology of Mariana and Brumadinho, that collapsed in 2015 and 2019, respectively. It is currently being decommissioned by CSN, in a delicate process, including the deviation of water flows, in a process expected to be concluded in 2028.
